http://www.o3animalhealth.com/equine-omega-complete.html
Someone told me about this and how it is a must-have.
Has anyone put their horse on this? What have your experiences been?
Thanks!
I tried it for a month, and honestly got equivalent results with Dac, which is much more affordable. I heard a bunch of people rave about it, so switched from dac to EOC and switched right back. It wasn’t worth more than double the price for the same results. I liked the results, but there are far more affordable ways to get exactly the same results.
Pricey…
Not a fan of soy first of all and to pricey! You can get non GMO organic soybean oil for $15 gallon at bulknaturaloils.com! I prefer coconut oil or hemp oil! Hell hemp is $45 gallon And coconut oil can be bought at $35-45 for a 5 gallon bag! I would stay away!
Camelina oil or bulk camelina seed are cheaper too!!!
All hype. People get very hung up on the omega ratios, not realizing that the 15-20 lbs of roughage they are (hopefully) feeding are well balanced in what researchers THINK MIGHT be correct for horses. You need to look at the whole diet, not just pull out one component and isolate it.
If you are really hung up on omegas, just feed flax. Way cheaper and you’ll get the same warm fuzzy feeling that you are doing something healthy for your horse.
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Used it for 3 months, didn’t notice any difference. Switched to flax seed oil (1/3 the price) and my guy had a stunning, shiny coat in 2 months.
Fish oil? For horses? Really?
If you are after Omega 3, and some oil for shiny coats, just feed a cup of flax in the mash. Cheap, time tested, and closer to the natural diet of a horse (which does include seed heads from grass in moderation).
Whole flax doesn’t go rancid any quicker than other grains.
I calculate my flax costs about $7 a month to feed.
Flax is way cheaper i can get a 50 lb bag for 22.75 at feed store. Don’t buy it though horse’s do fine without it. Vit/min i feed is good enough. Horses have shed out over half of their winter coats already.
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Another vote for plain old flaxseed oil. I spent quite a bit on pricey omega supps (thanks, Smartpak :lol:), tried a cheaper stabilized ground flax, but my horse sifted it out of his grain and it got left at the bottom of the bucket. Flaxseed oil it is - gave my horse a gorgeous, silky, shiny coat in just a month or two. And he licks the feed tub clean.
Grass, sure.
Hay? Little to no Omega 3.
Most commercial feeds are higher in 6 than 3. All cereal grains are high 6 low (to no) 3.
O9 is not an essential EFA, so take that out of the equation.
Anything that is higher in O6 than O3 is not beneficial. Maybe benign, but not inherently good. So no, I would not pay this much $ for a product with more 6 than 3. I’d use straight, cheap “vegetable oil” if all I cared about was calories and a coat shine.
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I think we’ve chewed over all the alternatives including hemp seed on here in recent months, and flax seed still has the highest ratio of Omega 3 to 6.
I think Chia is a bit higher in O3, but not on par with the increased price.
Good hay has 1-3% fat and 18-35% omega 3s. Grass is 3-5% fat and 45-55% omega 3s. Feeding too much essential fatty acids, even a “good” ratio, can be detrimental. You know, cuz a little is good, so a lot must be great!
I should not have used “little to none” for O3 in hay. However, the point is, dried forage is pretty significantly lower in O3 than fresh grass is, so horses on hay-only diets often do benefit from added Omega 3. If you’re going from 5% fat and 55% omega 3, to 1% fat and 18% O3, that’s a huge drop.
To my knowledge, the “perfect” ratio is what’s in fresh grass, since that’s the majority of forage horses evolved eating. When the fat % lowers, and the EFA content % lowers on top of that, that is not what horses evolved eating, so adding some O3 is not a bad thing. There’s just no evidence they need more O6.
Nobody should be going overboard feeding even O3. There has to be some “balance”, which is more 3 than 6. We all need the O6 for its pro-inflammatory properties. Inflammation is critical to healing. Too much becomes detrimental. Adding a high O3 source such as flax or flax oil is not going to hurt, and for the horses on hay-only diets, can be very beneficial. Just don’t go adding 6 cups 
Horses evolved on the steppes of asia, and there was only fresh grass during certain times of the year. It was arid towards the south, and the growing season was short towards the north. The lush green pastures that we cultivate for long season grazing or crops of hay are relatively new, wrt evolution. It’s difficult to NOT get enough fatty acids into the diet if the horse has adequate roughage, either hay or grass. I totally agree that you need both omegas 3 and 6 in the right ratio, and going overboard is not wise. I don’t think people need to spend $1 a day, or even $.50 a day, on some exotic oil in an attempt to get omegas into their horse. I also would not freak out if someone was feeding a small amount of a supplement that had an inverse ratio, since the bulk of the diet is coming from roughage.
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I agree. I might be ok feeding this at its cost if it was appreciably higher in 3 than 6. I would never spend this sort of $ with it being higher 6 than 3. But no, feeding this in smaller amounts isn’t going to upset any apple cart.
I absolutely would never consider this a “must have” for the reason of the higher 6 than 3, if nothing else. That is never a “must have” for horses.
At the risk of asking a dumb question, but where are you buying the flax seed oil? Is it pure flax seed oil? I never seem to just find “flax seed oil.”
You can get TC’s ground flax for about $1 a pound and it has a shelf life of 2 years once opened. Flax seed oil will be more expensive, messy and I have no idea how long the shelf life is.
Some feed stores carry it, usually you have to order it yourself - a general search on “cold pressed flax oil” will give you suppliers. you do want it to be cold-pressed.
The downside to flax oil is it’s very sensitive to heat and light, so needs to be kept in a dark bottle in a dark, cool place, and used pretty quickly. If you’re going through it slowly, it would be best to pour out what you need for a couple weeks at a time, also in a dark bottle, and keep the rest closed tightly in a cool dark place. That reduces the number of times the bigger container is exposed to air.
IMHO, it’s not worth it, from both a cost and care perspective. I’d rather just feed whole flax, or grind it myself, or pay a bit extra (vs whole) for a ground stabilized flax such as TC’s. Other companies have some as well, including HorseTech’s Nutraflax.
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